Clamshell packaging is the rigid, clear, plastic packaging used to fully encase products. Due to its ability to make products completely visible to prospective buyers while still protecting the product from damage or theft, clamshell has increasingly become the packaging of choice among manufacturers and distributors of all sorts of products, from handheld gadgets to produce. The wisdom of using clamshell to package consumer products seems obvious, but less obvious, perhaps, may be how exactly to choose the best clamshell for your products.
What Are Your Needs?
The first step to figuring out the best clamshell packaging for your needs is to identify those needs in sufficient detail. In particular, you need to know the volume, size, and shape of the product you’ll be packaging.
The volume, or the amount of product inventory (and therefore packaging) you need, will greatly influence the supplier you choose for your packaging. You want to be sure that the company you choose can handle the volume you need produced. The size of the product will dictate the size of the packaging needed. The shape of the product, however, presents an interesting variable. Ideally, you’d like your clamshells to be nested for easier and, therefore, less costly shipping and placement.
Stock vs. Custom Clamshells
Depending on the shape of the product, using this packaging may require a custom design. Such individualized work adds time, cost, and complexity to the packaging process. It would be most economical to use stock clamshells, if at all possible, because they require no special tooling and tend to have a smaller minimum order requirement than custom-tooled clamshells.
In some cases, choosing the stock material may require using a larger clamshell or one that conforms less appealingly to the product’s shape. The cost-benefit analysis of a custom clamshell versus a stock clamshell will then determine which option best suits your business’s needs and objectives.
Other Considerations
Other requirements you may look for include the type of sealing to be used on the packaging. The main types of clamshell sealing you can choose are:
- Button Snap
- Friction Fit
- Heat Seal
- Over-Wrap Label
- RF Seal
- Spot Weld
- Staples
- Ultra-Sonic
While not all packaging companies offer every clamshell sealing option, SouthPack does.
Clamshell-type packaging keeps your product secure from theft and tampering while placing it directly in consumers’ hands. By knowing a few simple details about your products, you can easily choose the best clamshells for your packaging needs.